


A New Home

by withaflashoflove



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-08 12:23:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8844886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/withaflashoflove/pseuds/withaflashoflove
Summary: Iris reflects as her and Barry pack to leave her old apartment.





	

“I could’ve had this entire place packed and cleaned by now.” **  
**

His voice is background noise, but she can hear the excitement radiate in it. It’s making her excited, a little more than she’s been all day.

Leaving home is a hard thing to do.

And she’s currently caught in her own thoughts, as she’s staring at the picture in her hand, the one she’s pulled off the top of the shelf in her living room, the last one she took with her dad before he told her Francine was alive.

Maybe it’s because of the day. Or maybe it’s because she hasn’t really caught her breath for the past few months, ever since her and her dad made up. But all Iris can think about now is that night, the night in the picture, when they were all smiles at his house, when the only thing on their mind was how much wine was _too_ much wine, and whether they should save some for Barry or crack open another bottle.

“Babe..?”

Barry’s voice comes again, a little more equivocal, and she should probably answer at some point. But she’s still thinking about the picture. About her smile turning into something entirely different the week after the date of the picture, the day her dad told her another secret he’d been keeping from her, the day she swore she’d never step foot in his house again.

_“You lied to me!” Her voice flooded the room and she saw her dad flinch through teary eyes, but Iris was already out the door._

_“Iris! It was for your sake!”_

_She doesn’t turn around._

From then, this apartment became her new home, where only she stayed, where she cried herself to sleep the first few nights alone, where her heart broke a million times over, where the loneliness filled these rooms.

There were days when it swallowed her whole. Where the only silver lining was her job. Where seeking truth was the only thing that kept her going.

It was too much. Eddie was gone. Her dad was out of her life. Barry was sleeping in another bed. Her mom was the source of another lie. Her brother was someone she’d never met.

“You okay?”

This time, his hands are around her waist and his chin is on her shoulder, chest pressed tightly to her back.

She nods.

“Joe has the same picture at CCPD.” Barry presses a soft kiss to the side of her neck, and it takes the edge off just for a moment.

She’s reminded that today is a new start for the two of them. Today’s meant to be happy.

But it’s not easy to give everything up. To give up the home she built for herself, out of her own tears, her own laughter, her own resilience and strength.

“He does, doesn’t he,” she smiles.

Barry takes the picture frame from her and sets it back on the shelf, before spinning her around to meet his eyes. His hands ghost over her back. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks again.

Iris takes a moment to study his features, the greens of his eyes glisten from behind his eyelashes, the red of his lips warm, his face looking like Christmas all over again.

“It’s supposed to be a happy day,” she sighs, letting her hands wrap around his neck.

“Are you having second thoughts…?”

The question throws her off guard, because she’s _definitely_ not having second thoughts, she wants this as much as he does, but there’s sadness in his eyes now, and Iris is up all the way on the tips of her toes, kissing it away.

“I love you,” she hums between kisses, her hands running through his hair. She feels him relax as he lifts her off the ground, leveling the height between them.

Everything else about today is making her shaky in the knees...everything except this. Except them.

Except him.

She sucks on his bottom lip, gives it another gentle bite as her feet hit the ground.

“So no second thoughts,” Barry says through closed eyes.

“No second thoughts,” she confirms, kissing the base of his neck before stepping out of his embrace.

“The what’s wrong?”

The question lingers as Iris walks past the shelf, taking in her collection of books. She’d always been an avid reader, but getting lost in fiction helped keep the loneliness away.

And she had all the greats, ranging from Rachel Carson’s _Silent Spring_ to Gwen Ifill’s _The Breakthrough._

“Mom got me this one,” Iris says, pulling out a copy of _The Selected Works of Ida B. Wells-Barnett._

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She opens to the first page and stares at her mother’s note on the inside cover. “When she came to visit for the first time. Said my prose reminded her of Ida’s.”

“You read it?”

“Front to back,” she nods. 

She gathers it, along with as many other books that’ll fit into her arms and sets them down into the open box next to her.

“I’ll help.” Barry walks towards her.

They work as a team, the books transitioning from the shelf to his hands to her hands, before reaching the box. She takes her time, examining each book before setting it inside, and Barry’s patient, waiting for her to finish before handing her the next one.

“I think we need another box,” Barry laughs, and she does as well, setting the one currently in her hand down to fill the last empty space there is.

He helps her to her feet.

“I didn’t realize how many I had,” she smiles, wiping her forehead.

“You like your books.” Barry pulls her to his chest again.

She noticed he’d been doing that a lot. Pulling her close, whether they were alone in bed together or cuddled up on the couch. He liked pressing her tight against his body and wrapping his hands around her waist, nuzzling his nose into her neck, holding her there for as long as she’d stay.

She hadn’t said anything yet. It wasn’t out of habit for him to do it, but the urgency was starting to worry her a little bit.

And maybe that would be a conversation they could have in their new home, after they finish packing in here, but for now, she was relishing in his warmth, her head resting on his chest.

“What’s wrong?” Barry repeats the same question.

Iris exhales against his chest, before pulling away and taking him by the hand to the couch.

She picked it out to fit the living room. It wasn’t the biggest couch, but then again her apartment wasn’t the biggest either, and this couch, with it’s dark blue color, was the finishing touch.

“It feels bittersweet.”

“Why?”

Barry sits next to her, already pulling her hands into his, and she feels his eyes intensely focusing on her while hers focus on their intertwined hands.

“Because this is home...has been home...for so long. And it won’t be anymore.”

“We can stay,” he immediately says, and she meets his eyes.

“Barry -”

“I’m fast,” he interrupts, “I can get rid of any evidence of that paperwork without them noticing.”

This time, she laughs, and for the first time today, the mood feels light.

Her apartment was lonely for a long time. Until it wasn’t. Until she was excited to come back to it. Until she discovered the beauty of typing away on her kitchen counter for hours, till her back got stiff and her coffee got cold. Until she realized how much she loved the way the morning sun greeted her through her bedroom window, and the way her bed always made her feel so soft and so safe. Until Wally and Cisco and Linda filled it with more gifts than she could count, her collection of mugs expanding as fast as the engineering models Wally and Cisco left behind. Until wine and Netflix were her favorite pastime, especially with the touch of the warm water on her body and the smell of the bath salts in her nose.

“It’s okay, Bear,” she says, lifting her hand to wipe away a tear. “It’s just nostalgic, that’s all.”

He pulls her into his lap, one arm around her waist, the other on her butt, and she goes willingly, wrapping both of hers around his neck, as her feet curl into him.

“Take all the time you need,” Barry says.

She leans in to kiss him, lingers a little too long before pulling away, and he’s chasing after her lips, and she decides to let him keep chasing, long enough to where she’s on her back and he’s on top of her, capturing them again, kissing her deeply, his hands already underneath her shirt.

“Honestly,” he pulls away to look at her, “take as much time as you need.”

And maybe it’s not a bad idea, to spend one more night in here, to make one more memory before she leaves forever.

But she doesn’t want to spend another night without him, not when he’s looking at her like that, with a smile that she’s missed, that she hasn’t seen since many moons ago, with eyes so big and so sincere.

“Okay,” she confirms, “maybe _we_ stay here tonight?”

He nods. “As long as you want.”

“Just tonight,” Iris affirms, “and maybe tomorrow, we can get the new apartment set up.”

“We can do that.”

“Okay,” she smiles.

“Okay,” he mirrors her.

So she pulls him back down, her hands already pushing his shirt all the way up, and Iris isn’t ready to leave here yet, but tomorrow is a new day, and she loves the pretty boy with green eyes who’s kissing her like there’s no tomorrow, and she knows home is wherever he’ll be.


End file.
